To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children under 16 have been recorded as living in bed and breakfast accommodation in each of the last five years; and what steps are being taken to reduce the number of children in such accommodation. (261042)

I have been asked to reply.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 2 March 2009, Official Report, column 1225W, which gives a national estimate of the number of children in bed and breakfast-style temporary accommodation under homelessness legislation as at the end of September 2008, and steps that are being taken to reduce that number. The September 2008 quarter was the first for which the response rate and quality of data reported at local authority level was sufficiently high to produce a national estimate, so national figures for previous years are not available.